Prof. Balázs graduated in Budapest at the Faculty of Economics of the “Karl Marx” University (today Corvinus University). He got his PhD degree and habilitated at the same University. He is ScD of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In parallel with his government and diplomatic career, he has been teaching and doing research. He was nominated Professor of the Corvinus University in 2000 and joined the CEU as full time Professor in 2005.

Prof. Balázs is currently holding a Jean Monnet Ad Personam Chair at CEU. His research activities are centered on the foreign policy of the EU and problems of the late modernization and European integration of the Eastern part of the continent. He also analyzes questions of European governance including the future of European institutions. He is regularly teaching at various home and foreign universities, lecturing in English, French, German and Hungarian. In 2005, he established the Center for European Neighborhood Studies (CENS) at the Central European University. 

Vladimír Bartovic is the director of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy. In 2014 he has been appointed external advisor – a member of the Group of External Advisors on the EU policies to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and a member of the Programme Council of the Czech – Polish Forum. In 2015 he has been elected member of the Board of Directors of PASOS – Policy Association for an Open Society.

He graduated in international trade and international politics at the University of Economics, Prague, Faculty of International Relations. He also studied at University of Granada, Faculty of Political Science and Sociology.

From 2011 to 2012 he served as a director of Strategic Planning and Analysis at the Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. He also worked as an editor in the Integrace magazine. He has been lecturing on topical EU issues at the Institute of Public Administration and the Czech National Bank. He co-operated with OSCE election missions in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Kosovo.

Steven Blockmans is Head of EU foreign policy and Head of Institutional Affairs at the Brussels-based think tank Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Professor of EU External Relations Law and Governance at the University of Amsterdam, and a founding member of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER). He is the author of ‘Tough Love: the EU’s relations with the Western Balkans’ (AP/CUP 2007) and the (co-)editor of more than 10 volumes, including ‘The EU's Role in Global Governance’ (OUP 2013) and ‘Differentiated Integration in the EU: From the Inside Looking Out’ (CEPS 2014). He served as leading author of the FES-sponsored Task Force on ‘More Union in European Defence’ chaired by Javier Solana (CEPS 2015). 

For more than 20 years Steven has combined his academic work with contract research carried out for EU and national donors, consultancy activities and training for professionals. He has advised governments of third countries on their relations with the EU and worked on numerous technical assistance projects in wider Europe and Asia. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and a frequent commentator on EU affairs for international media. Before joining CEPS in 2012, Steven was Head of Research at the Asser Institute, an international law centre based in The Hague. From 2010 to 2014, he was a special visiting professor at the Law Faculty of University of Leuven. From 2007 to 2009 he served as a long-term expert on legal approximation in the framework of an EU-sponsored project in support for the Ministry of European Integration of Albania.

Ambassador (Rtd) Martin Bútora is the advisor to President of Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska (from June 2014). He is the founder and honorary president of the Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava established in 1997. In 1990 – 1992 he served as advisor for human rights to President Václav Havel. From 1999 to 2003, he was the Ambassador of Slovakia to the United States.

Amb. Butora holds a PhD. in Sociology from Charles University in Prauge. He taught at Charles University, Trnava University and University of Economics in Bratislava. He writes on civil society, foreign policy, and democratic transformation. In the last years, he co-authored and/or co-edited Visegrad Elections 2010: Domestic Impact and European Consequences, 2011; Active Citizenship and Nongovernmental Sector in Slovakia, 2012; Alternative Politics? The Rise of New Political Parties in Central Europe, 2013; Collective Defence and Common Security. Twin Pillars of the Atlantic Alliance. Group of Policy Experts report to the NATO Secretary General, 2014.

Ambassador Butora is the recipient of the Democracy Service Medal from the National Endowment for Democracy (1999), Crystal Wing Award for diplomatic achievements (2002), and Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2011). He served as Human Rights Advisor to Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel (1990–1992).

Professor Petr Drulák, Ph.D. (1972) is the Political Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (since 1 July 2015), From 2014 to 2015 he has had a position of the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In past he had worked as a director of the Institute of International Relations in Prague. Since 2012 he has been a professor of political science at Charles University, Prague. Among his research interests belong political theories, European integration and theories of international relations. During his rich academic career Petr Drulák has published many research articles in international journals (EJIR, JEPP, JIRD, Osteuropa) and books (Regional and International Relations of Central Europe, Palgrave, 2012; The Return of Geopolitics in Europe?, Cambridge University Press, 2012). In Czech language he wrote couple of textbooks and books, the latest one is Politika nezájmu: Česko a Západ v krizi, SLON, 2012. Nowadays, he actively contributes to Czech newspapers and media.

Roland Freudenstein was born in Bonn, Germany. After a two year voluntary military service, he studied political science, economics, Japan studies and international relations in Bonn and Los Angeles. Having worked as a research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, he became a member of the foreign and security planning staff of the European Commission in Brussels in the 1990s. Subsequently, he became the director of the Warsaw office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and later held a leading function in the Foundation’s central office in Berlin. After coming back to Brussels in 2004, he represented the German city state of Hamburg to the EU.

Roland Freudenstein is now, since 2008, Head of Research and Deputy Director of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies. He has contributed to debates and published extensively on European integration, international security, German-Polish relations, global democracy support and recently about the changes in the Middle East. Since 2015 Roland Freudenstein is also a Policy Director of the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies

Beata Jaczewska is an Executive Director of International Visegrad Fund, former Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Poland, lawyer, negotiator, and long-term civil servant. She is statutory representative of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF), personally responsible for fulfilling priorities set by governments of V4 countries in the field of continuous improvement of the cooperation between 4 societies, as well as assisting neighbouring countries on their development paths.

Jaczewska is an expert in EU legislative processes and international negotiations. Her background is European law and economics. She graduated from several prestigious universities such as Warsaw University, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, and Warsaw School of Economics. She also holds a degree from the University of Cambridge in European law.

For years, Beata has been gaining professional experience in Polish public administration, recently in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her work as Deputy Minister for the Ministry of the Environment was responsible for international relation as well as policies of sustainable development, air quality and climate change. Prior to that, she also served in the Ministry of the Economy as the Economy Development Department’s Director where she was focused on strategic planning of the economic growth in such areas as sustainable development policy, industrial policy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Petr Kratochvíl is the Senior Researcher of the Institute of International Relations and a lecturer at several Czech universities. He is the Chairman of the Academic Council of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic as well as a member of a range of academic and scientific councils. Petr Kratochvíl represents the IIR in various international associations such as the Trans European Policy Studies Association or the European Consortium for Political Research.

He has published extensively on European integration, EU-Russian relations, institutional reform and the EU enlargement, the role of religion in international affairs, and international relations theory.  The book The European Union and the Catholic Church: Political Theology of European Integration, co-authored by Tomáš Doležal and published in 2015 by Palgrave Macmillan, is one of the latest examples of his research activity. He is also often called upon to present his analyses by various Czech and foreign media.

From September 2005 to August 2013, Pascal Lamy served for two consecutive terms as General Director- of the World Trade Organization (WTO).  A committed European and member of the French Socialist party, he was Chief of Staff for the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors from 1985 to 1994. He then joined the Credit Lyonnais as CEO until 1999, before returning to Brussels as European Trade Commissioner until 2004. Mr. Lamy holds degrees from HEC School of Management, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

Pascal Lamy was appointed, in May 2015, as interministerial delegate for the preparation of the French candidature for the Universal Exhibition 2025. He shares his other activities between the Jacques Delors Institute (President emeritus), the presidency of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the presidency of the Oxford Martin School Commission for Future Generations, the vice-presidency of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), the Co-chair of the Equitable Access Initiative (Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), his participation to the Global Ocean Commission and UNAIDS as well as different subjects related to international affairs.

Dr. phil. Barbara Lippert studied Political Science, Contemporary and Eastern European History and Slavonic Studies at the University of Bonn and the Free University Berlin between the years 1981-1987. She then acquired her Doctorate (Dr. phil) at the University of Bonn. In 1990–1992, she worked as a Senior Associate at the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Bonn and Berlin and between 1992–2009 as a Deputy Director of the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in Berlin.

Since April 2009, she has worked as a Director of Research and Member of Executive Board of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) in Berlin.

Her areas of expertise are EU enlargement policy, development of the political system of the EU, Germany and European integration and the European Neighbourhood Policy.

Jan Michal has been a Head of Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic since September 2010. In the past, he worked also as an Adviser - Secretariat General of the European Commission (2009-2010), as a Director of the UN Department at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (2007-2009), as a Deputy permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to NATO (2007-2003), or as a Director of the UN Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2002-2003). He also worked at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Hague as a secretary between 1996-2001. In 1996, he acquired his Degree in International Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University.

Ana Palacio is an international lawyer specializing in international and European Union law and founder of Palacio y Asociados (Madrid, Brussels and Washington DC), a law firm specializing in European and International Law, and arbitration. Ms. Palacio sits on the corporate boards of Pharmamar (biotech), Enagás (gas systems), and AEE Power (energy infrastructures); she is a member of the European Advisory Committee of Investcorp (investment), and the International Advisory Board of Office Chérifien des Phosphates -OCP- (fertilizers); and a member of the Governing Council of the Instituto de Empresa (business school). Ana Palacio serves on the Executive Board of The Atlantic Council of the United States and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council. She further participates on the governing bodies of several research centers and public institutions, among them as member of the Scientific Council of the Real Instituto Elcano, member of the Council of the ECFR, and member of the Board of Visitors of the MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is a visiting professor at the Edmund E. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Ms. Palacio served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain (2002-2004) and was a member of the Spanish Parliament (2004-2006) where she chaired the Joint Committee of the two Houses for European Union Affairs. She has been Senior Vice-President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group and Secretary General of ICSID (2006-2008). From 1994 until 2002, she was a member of European Parliament where she chaired the Legal Affairs and Internal Market Committee, the Citizens Rights, Justice and Home Affairs Committee, as well as the Committee of Committee Chairs. Ms. Palacio publishes regularly in periodicals and journals. In particular, she maintains a monthly column at Project Syndicate.

Ing. Tomáš Prouza, MBA was appointed State Secretary for European Affairs and Digital Agenda Coordinator by the Prime Minister of the Czech RepublicBetween 2007–2014 he worked as an Expert for Financial Inclusion, Consumer Protection and Financial Literacy at The World Bank, firstly in Prague and then in Washington. From 2004 to 2007 he held the position of Deputy Minister of Finance responsible for financial markets, the European Union and international relations, including the OECD and the World Bank. Between 2005 and 2006 he was the first National Coordinator for Euro Introduction. He was also Deputy Governor of the International Monetary Fund for the Czech Republic and a member of the Financial Market Committee (an advisory body to the Bank Board of the Czech National Bank).

Anna Stellinger is Director-General of the National Board of Trade, appointed by the Swedish government for a period of six years. She holds university degrees in French and political science from Lund University, Sweden, and an International master’s degree in International Relations from Sciences Po de Paris, France. For 10 years Anna Stellinger was a researcher and a Director of Research at several non-partisan think tanks and institutes in Paris, France. Before taking up her position as Director-General of the National Board of Trade, she was the Director of SIEPS, the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies.

Anna Stellinger is a member of the University Board of Lund University, and a member of the Swedish Council on Basic Values.

Ernst Stetter has been the Secretary General of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) since its creation in 2008. He is also a regular commentator on EU affairs in the media.

Ernst Stetter is an economist and political scientist. He studied in Tübingen and Heidelberg (Germany) focusing on international trade, finance, economic and social policy as well as development issues. In 1980 he obtained his PhD in political science for his dissertation entitled The Association of ACP-Countries (Lomé I and II) to the European Community and the STABEX-System.

From 1980 to 2008 he worked for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in various positions. After serving as the Head of the Africa Department and the Head of the Central Europe Unit, in 1997 he moved to Paris and became the Director of the FES Office in France while in 2003 he was appointed as Director of the EU-Office of FES in Brussels.

In 2003 he received the French decoration of Chevalier de l'Ordre national du Mérite.

Prior to joining the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), an in-house think tank of the European Commission reporting directly to President Juncker, as Deputy Head, Paweł Świeboda was President of demosEUROPA – Centre for European Strategy, an EU policy think tank based in Warsaw, from 2006 to 2015. Earlier, he was Director of the EU Department at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the years 2001-2006 and EU Advisor to the President of Poland from 1996 to 2000.

A graduate of the London School of Economics (BSs in Economics), and the University of London (MA in International Relations), he is a member of a number of advisory boards of European think tanks as well as a member of the Global Agenda Council on Europe of the World Economic Forum. In 2013/2014, he was Rapporteur of the Review of European Innovation Partnerships.

Vessela Tcherneva is the co-founder of Sofia Platform, a venue for dialogue between members of NGOs, the media, and politics from Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. From 2010 to 2013 she was the spokesperson for the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the political cabinet of Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov. She has been the head of the Bulgarian office of the European Council for Foreign Relations since 2008, as well as programme director for Foreign Policy Studies at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. Between 2004 and 2006 she was secretary of the International Commission on the Balkans, chaired by former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato. She has been a supervising editor for Foreign Policy Bulgaria magazine since its launch in 2005.

Nathalie Tocci is Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, and Special Adviser to EU HRVP Federica Mogherini, on behalf of whom she wrote the European Global Strategy and is now working on its implementation, notably in the field of security and defence. Previously she held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, the Transatlantic Academy, Washington and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Florence. Her research interests include European foreign policy, conflict resolution, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Her major publications include: Framing the EU's Global Strategy, Springer-Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (author); The EU, Promoting Regional Integration, and Conflict Resolution, Springer-Palgrave Macmillan, 2017 (co-editor); Turkey and the European Union, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 (co-author); Multilateralism in the 21st Century, Routledge, 2013 (co-editor), Turkey’s European Future: Behind the Scenes of America’s Influence on EU-Turkey Relations, New York University Press, 2011 (author); and The EU and Conflict Resolution, Routledge, 2007 (author). Nathalie is the 2008 winner of the Anna Lindh award for the study of European Foreign Policy.

Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga is President of the World Leadership Alliance/Club de Madrid and former President of Latvia (1999-2007). She played a leading role in achieving membership in the EU and NATO for her country and was Special Envoy on UN reform. She was vice-chair of the Reflection group on the long-term future of Europe, and chaired the High-level group on freedom and pluralism of media in the EU in 2011-12.

She is a member, board member or patron of 30 international organisations, including ECFR, Nizami Ganjavi International Centre (Co-chair), Library of Alexandria, Trust Fund for Victims of the ICC, Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security of OSCE, Advisory Council of CEPA, as well as five Academies. She has been awarded 34 Orders of Merit and 19 Honorary doctorates.

Born in Riga, Vaira started her schooling in refugee camps in Germany, continued in Morocco, and obtained a Ph.D. at McGill University (1965). After a distinguished career as Professor of psychology at the University of Montreal, she returned to her native country in 1998 to head the Latvian Institute. Less than a year later she was elected President by the Latvian Parliament and re-elected in 2003.

Dr. Shmuel Bar is Senior Research Fellow at the Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Studies at the Technion – Israel Institute for Technology and founder and CEO of IntuView Ltd – a start-up dealing in “artificial intuition” technology. He is also adjunct Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and has been Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Shmuel served for thirty years in the Israeli intelligence community including in senior positions in the Office of the Prime Minister, where he dealt, inter alia, with Jihadist movements and WMD proliferation issues and in diplomatic posting in Europe where he liaised with European Intelligence agencies on these and other issues. He has headed research projects – many of them for US government agencies - and published extensively on issues relating to the Middle East, including ideology and operational codes of radical Islamic movements, leadership paradigms and command and control structures in the Middle East, scenarios for Middle East futures post the “Arab Spring”, Iranian defense doctrine and negotiating methods and more. He holds a Ph.D. in History of the Middle East from Tel-Aviv University.

Dr. rer. pol. Annegret Bendiek (M.A., D.E.E.A) is a Senior Associate in the EU / Europe Division of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). She specializes in European Common Foreign and Security Policy, European cybersecurity and data privacy and data security in the transatlantic relationship. From April until October 2014, she was seconded to the Policy Planning Staff of the German Federal Foreign Office, working on the project „Review 2014 – Außenpolitik Weiter Denken“. Between August 2013 and April 2014, she held a Robert Bosch Public Policy Fellowship at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Washington D.C. She is currently leading a project funded by the German Foreign Office entitled »The challenges of digitalization for German Foreign and Security Policy«.

Vladimír Bilčík heads the EU program at the Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA) and lectures on European integration and international relations in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Philosopy at Philosophical Faculty at Comenius University in Bratislava. In the past he advised Slovakia’s governmental representative in the Convention on the Future of Europe (2002 – 2003). His research focuses on the role of EU member states, governance and legitimacy issues in the EU and the Eastern Partnership. He studied at Swarthmore College (B.A.), University of Oxford (M.Phil) and Comenius University (PhD).

Anthony Dworkin is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, where he leads the organisation’s work on democracy, human rights and justice. Among the subjects he has written on are the place of human rights in EU foreign policy, counterterrorism and drone strikes, and international justice in the response to mass atrocities. Since 2011 he has closely followed EU policy towards North Africa, with a particular focus on Egypt and Tunisia, and is editing a collection of papers on the region which will be published later this month. He is also currently serving as interim research director at ECFR.

Štefan Füle served as European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy between 2010 and 2014. Until then, in 2009, he served in the Czech government as the European Affairs Minister. Ambassador Füle graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He started his professional career at the Czechoslovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1987 and since then has held many important positions at the Ministry, Czech embassies abroad as well as international organizations such as UN or NATO. In 1990 - 1995 he served in the UN structures as the First Secretary of the Czechoslovakian (later Czech) Permanent Delegation at the UN, later Member and Alternate Representative to the UN Security Council. After that he directed the United Nations Department (1995 - 1996) and Security Policy Department (1996 - 1998) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1998 he was appointed Czech Ambassador to Lithuania and in 2003 became Ambassador to the UK. In 2005 he became Czech Permanent Representative to NATO until 2009, when was appointed European Affairs Minister. Ambassador Füle recently joined International Advisory Board of the Central European Strategy Council.

Hanna Hopko is a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and a Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Ukrainian Parliament. She was also one of the leading members of the Civic Sector of EuroMaidan during the Revolution of Dignity. She launched with other activists the  “Reanimation Package of Reforms” initiative – a coalition of Ukrainian NGOs focused on efficient implementation of most important reforms in Ukraine (judiciary and administrative reforms, etc.). During the parliamentary elections that followed the EuroMaidan revolution, Hanna Hopko headed the list of Samopomich Party and became a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. She was designed Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee on 4 December 2014.

Hanna Hopko is also an expert in advocacy, media and political communication. She gained much experience working with many human rights and environment NGO´s and on projects with institutions such as USAID, OSCE, NATO, UNEP, UNDP etc.) She became a famous Ukrainian civil society activist, also coordinating iniciatives such as "For Smoke-Free Ukraine".

During 2006-2014 period, she was a team leader of many programs for NGO´s in Kazakhstan and worked on many projects in Belarus. In her early career, she also worked as a journalist. She has a PhD in Political communications.

Jana Hybášková is currently a Head of the EU Delegation to Namibia. Prior to that, she was Head of the EU Delegation to Iraq (2011-2015) and a Constituting Member of the European Parlament´s Delegation to Iraq (2007-2014). She obtained her doctorate in Arabic and Oriental Studies in Charles University, Prague.

In the past, Jana Hybášková was an EDP (European Democratic Party) leader in the 2009 EU parliamentary elections. Before, she worked as a member of Steering Committee at the World Movement for Democracy (2005-2010), and Head of the European Parliament´s Delegation for the Relations with Israel (2004-2009).Between 1997 and 2004, she was an Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the States of Kuwait and Quatar (also covering Iraq), an Advisor to the Czech Secretary of State for European Affairs and an Ambassador in Slovenia.

Thierry Chopin holds a PhD in political science from the the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris). He is Head of Research at the Robert Schuman Foundation, a French Think-Tank on EU affairs based in Paris and Brussels. Thierry is currently Visiting Professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and he also teaches at Sciences Po and at Mines ParisTech. 

He has served, between 2007 and 2008, as scientific advisor to the Strategic Analysis Center (Policy Planning Staff of the French Prime Minister) and as advisor at the Policy Planning Staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thierry is currently an associate expert at the Center for International Studies of Sciences Po (CERI) and Visiting Fellow at the LSE's European Institute.

He is the author of many books on European issues including (with Y. Bertoncini), Politique européenne. Etats, pouvoirs et citoyens de l’Union européenne (Presses de Sciences Po-Dalloz, 2010)   and (with Jean-François Jamet and Christian Lequesne) L’Europe d’après. En finir avec le pessimisme (Lignes de Repères, 2012). He is co-editor with Michel Foucher of Schuman Report on Europe. State of the Union.

David Král is a Head of Policy Planning Department at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his prior career, he was a Vice-chairman of the Executive Commitee and consequently a Director of EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy (1999-2014), an Assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University (1999-2003), a Member and consequently a Chairman of the Board of Directors at PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) in 2004-2014 and a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis (2010-2014). He has also been an external lecurer at the Metropolitan University Prague (2005-2007) and New Anglo-American College (2007-2008).

David Král has a degree from the Law Faculty at Charles University. He is also an author of numerous publications regarding European Union institutions and policies, EU Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy.

Zoltan Martinusz is currently a Director of the Directorate for Enlargement, Security, Civil Protection, Foreign Affairs Council Support at the Council of the European Unionm General Secretariat. He has a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College in Carlisle, PA.

In the past, he worked as a Principal Advisor on External Affairs at the Cabinet of the President of the European Council (2010-2012), as a Director of the Directorate for the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (2009-2010) and as an Ambassador - Permanent Representative of Hungary to NATO (2005-2009).

He is a member of the Hungarian Atlantic Council, the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Association, the International Institute of Strategic Studies (London) and the Academic Advisory Board of the NATO Defence College (2001-2004).

Martin Michelot is the Director of the Global Europe program and Deputy Director at the EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy in Prague, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Paris office of German Marshall Fund of the US. He leads Europeum’s foreign policy programming in Central Europe, with a focus on security policy, immigration issues and regional cooperation. Michelot also manages the high-level convening program Transatlantic Security and Future of NATO program for the GMF, where he has over 4 years of experience in event management and research on transatlantic security cooperation issues.

He is a graduate of Sciences Po Lyon, where he studied international relations. His previous experiences include the Brookings Institution, and the French National Assembly, as a parliamentary assistant. Michelot is a regular contributor to various news outlets on the topics of European defense policy and transatlantic relations. He teaches seminars at Sciences Po Lyon, Sciences Po Reims, the Ecole Centrale, and Charles University. He was selected by the Atlantic Council as one of the 15 Emerging Leaders tasked with writing a report before the NATO 2014 Wales Summit.

Antonio Missiroli has been the Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies since 2012. He and his team have produced a number of publications examining global trends on issues ranging from climate change to the future of the Arab world and the security of the Arctic. More recently, Dr Missiroli has been closely involved in the drafting of the recent HR/VP Report on ‘The EU in a changing global environment’.

He was Adviser at the Bureau of European Policy Advisers of the European Commission, in charge of European dialogue/outreach and publications (2010-12); Director of Studies at the European Policy Centre in Brussels (2005-10), and Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the W/EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris (1998-2005). He was also Head of European Studies at CeSPI in Rome (1994-97) and a Visiting Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford (1996-97). 

As well as being a professional journalist, he has also taught at the Universities of Bath and Trento, Boston University and SAIS/Johns Hopkins (Bologna). He is currently visiting lecturer at the College of Europe (Bruges) and Sciences Po (Paris). Dr Missiroli holds a PhD degree in Contemporary History from the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa) and a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from SAIS/Johns Hopkins University.

Milan Nič is Managing Director at CEPI. His expertise includes political affairs in Central & Eastern Europe, NATO and EU Enlargement, the Western Balkans, Governance and Civil Society. Previously he worked as Senior Adviser to the State Secretary at the Slovak Foreign Ministry (2010-12), consultant for the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2007-09), and analyst for the European Stability Initiatives think-tank (2009-10). In 2009 - 2010, he was also member of an external advisory council to the Slovak foreign minister. He started his professional carrier as journalist at the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (1995-2002), and later was programme director at the Pontis Foundation (2002-06), where he oversaw development and human rights projects in variety of difficult countries including Belarus, Cuba and Iraq.

Milan studied international relations and modern European history at the Charles University in Prague, Central European University in Budapest, and SAIS Johns Hopkins University (Bologna Center). A recipient of the Karol Rybárik Award for the best young professional in Slovak foreign policy (2004), he co-authored a book of essays on the EU and Slovak foreign policy (Bruselenie valašiek, 2010).

Dr Polly Pallister-Wilkins is an assistant professor in the Political Science department at the University of Amsterdam and a researcher at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research. Her research focuses on humanitarian interventions at the borders of Europe, most recently in the Mediterranean and the Aegean. Previous work has critically addressed EU and European security and democracy promotion efforts in the Mediterranean neighbourhood, the politics of crises and specific European border policing practices. As a result she is the author of a range of scholarly works addressing these issues. She works closely with a range of partners most notably from the European Crisis Observatory (Athens) and Médecins Sans Frontières (OCA).

Marc Pierini is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, where his research focuses on developments in the Middle East and Turkey from a European perspective. Pierini is also a member of the International Council of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille.

Pierini was a career EU diplomat from December 1976 to April 2012. He was EU ambassador and head of delegation to Turkey (2006–2011) and ambassador to Tunisia and Libya (2002–2006), Syria (1998–2002), and Morocco (1991–1995). He also served as the first coordinator for the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, or the Barcelona Process, from 1995 to 1998 and was the main negotiator for the release of the Bulgarian hostages from Libya from 2004 to 2007.Pierini served as counselor in the cabinet of two European commissioners: Claude Cheysson, from 1979 to 1981, and Abel Matutes, from 1989 to 1991. He has published three essays in French: “Le prix de la liberté,” “Télégrammes diplomatiques,” and “Où va la Turquie?.” 

Vera Rihackova is an Associated research fellow with EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy. Her major areas of expertise include EU foreign policy with focus on Eastern Partnership countries, EU democracy assistance and the EU instruments of external action, the development cooperation, security and counterterrorism policies. In May 2014, she was designated an external advisor, a member of the Group of External Advisors on the EU policies, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. She holds the 2014 PASOS Think Tank Publication Award for her paper “Taking Stock of the EU Civil Society Funding in EaP Countries”. She works as Advocacy and Membership Manager at the Secretariat of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Brussels.

Tomáš Sedláček is a Czech economist and university lecturer. He is the Chief Macroeconomic Strategist at ČSOB, a member of a group Narrative of Europe commissioned by Manuel Barroso and Council Member of World Economic Forum focused on New Economic Thinking. He is a former member of the National Economic Council of the Czech Republic and an economic advisor to former President Václav Havel. His book Economics of Good and Evil, a bestseller in the Czech Republic, was translated into English and published by the Oxford University Press in June, 2011.

Dr. Eduard Soler i Lecha is a political scientist and a part-time lecturer in International Relations at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals and at Blanquerna-Ramon Llull University. He is also the team-leader of El-Hiwar, a EU-funded project on Euro-Arab diplomacy. In 2010, he was seconded to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an adviser in the DG for the Mediterranean, the Maghreb and the Middle East. Eduard Soler i Lecha holds a PhD in International Relations from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. His main areas of expertise are: Euro-Mediterranean relations, North African and Middle Eastern political dynamics, Turkey’s foreign and domestic politics and security cooperation in the Mediterranean.

Iryna Solonenko is a DAAD/OSF scholar at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder and an associate fellow of the Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Between 2000 and 2012 she worked with the Open Society Foundations in Ukraine as the Director of the European Programme and with the EastWest Institute in Kyiv as a project manager. 

Solonenko holds degrees in International Relations, European Studies, Public Administration and History from the Central European University, Budapest; National Academy of Publc Administration, Kyiv; and  National University 'Kyiv-Mohyla Academy', Kyiv. During 2006-2007 she was a visiting research associate  at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Her research interests include European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership, political economy of post-Soviet transformation, including the nexus between the political power and oligarchic control, and civil society development with a focus on Ukraine.

David Stulík is presently working as the Press and Information Office at the EU Delegation in Kyiv, Ukraine. Prior to this position, he was shortly employed in the Czech Deputy Prime Minister Office, where he dealt with the preparations for the Czech EU Presidency. Before joining the public sector, David acted as the Head of Unit for Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova and the Coordinator of democracy projects in Eastern Europe in one of the largest Central European NGO, People in Need. Before, he served as the Project Manager at the Civil Society Development Foundation (NROS), which has been predominantly involved in the administration of PHARE programs aimed at the development of civil society in the Czech Republic. After the EU accession he has been appointed by the Czech government as a member of the European Economic and Social Committee, where he represented Czech non-governmental sector and also served as the Rapporteur for Belarus.

His professional experience also includes working for the independent Czech think tank, Institute for European policies EUROPEUM, which he has co-founded. Mr. Stulík also served as Project Manager and Executive Assistant to Senior Vice President of the EastWest Institute, Euro-American think tank. During his studies he held the position of Vice President of AEGEE-Europe (European Students’ Association). Mr. Stulík has MA degree in Society and Politics from the Central European University andMSc in International Economics from the Warsaw School of Economics.

Stuart Summers is a Senior Adviser at the European External Action Service, working on the EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy as well as on developing the EU relationship with Iran, in particular its strategic regional aspects. He is a seconded diplomat from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and previous postings include Cyprus, Czech Republic, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Ivo Šlosarčík is professor of European Integration Studies and Jean Monnet Chair inEU Law at Charles University in Prague. Having graduated in law and Europeanintegration studies, he obtained LL.M. in comparative constitutional law (CentralEuropean University in Budapest) and Ph.D. in international law (Charles Universityin Prague). Ivo Šlosarčík also acted as director for research at Europeum Institute forEuropean Policy and as member of governmental advisory bodies on the EuropeanConstitutional Treaty and the EU Council Presidency. Ivo Šlosarčík's area of researchcovers norm enforcement in the European Union, the EU's cooperation in the AFSJand Europenization of national political, administrative and judicial structures to theEuropean integration. At present, Ivo Šlosarčík works on a monograph onEuropeanization of Czech civil service in years 2004-2014.

Dr. Benjamin Tallis is a Research Fellow at the Institute of International Relations and the Coordinator of the Institute’s Centre for European Security. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the SCOPUS listed academic journal ‘New Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Journal of Central and East European Politics and International Relations. His research interests focus on security politics in Europe, particularly looking at issues relating to borders, security, mobility and migration. Tallis also researches wider issues relating to the politics, societies and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, critical geopolitics, the politics of the European Union and ways to put critical research into policy and practice.

He completed his doctorate - ‘A Moveable East: Identities, Borders and Orders in the Enlarged EU and its Eastern Neighbourhood’ at the University of Manchester. He previously worked as a strategy, planning and performance officer for the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine and as a strategic analyst and project manager for the EU Police Mission EUPOL-Proxima, based in Skopje. He frequently appears in the Czech and international media discussing European politics and security and writes for a variety of European publications on the same topics, as well as writing on architecture and art.

Frans Timmermans currently serves as the First Vice-President of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for the portfolio of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights. Timmermans previously served in the Dutch Civil Service (1987–1998), as a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (1998–2007; 2010–2012), as Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs charged with European Affairs (2007–2010) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012–2014).

Asle Toje (b. 1974) is the Research Director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, and a lecturer at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Oslo. Toje’s research interests are found at the intersection of security studies and European studies. Since Toje graduated from Cambridge University in 2006, he has published widely on European security and foreign policy. Among his last works are America, the EU and Strategic Culture (London, Routledge); The European Union as a Small Power (London, Macmillan, 2010) and Neoclassical realism in Europe (Manchester University Press, 2012). He has also authored two monographies in Norwegian on the economic and political crisis in Europe: Rødt, Hvitt & Blått and Jernburet (Dreyer 2012, 2014)

Lubomír Zaorálek was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic on 29 January 2014, following years in the position of the shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Social Democratic Party and a leading representative of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

Lubomír Zaorálek was born in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 6 September 1956. He graduated in philosophy from Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Brno. Prior to his appointment as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in January 2014, Lubomír Zaorálek was a leading figure in the Czech Parliament, in 2002 – 2006 being the Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and later the Deputy Chairman. In 1998 he was elected the Deputy Chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party and since 2002 he was the Party´s Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1996, Lubomír Zaorálek was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for the first time. Before he joined the Czech legislature, Lubomír Zaorálek served on the Ostrava City Council since 1990. He was elected on the ballot of the Civic Forum (Občanské fórum), being one of its founders and representatives appointed to the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly in January 1990. At that time he joined the staff of the Philosophy Department of the Ostrava University teaching political philosophy, current philosophy, ethics and Czech political thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. Prior to November 1989, Lubomír Zaorálek worked for the Czechoslovak Socialist Party after he had left his job at the Ostrava studio of the Czechoslovak Television. Lubomír Zaorálek is divorced.